This invention pertains generally to medical equipment and more particularily to a battery charger for a defibrillator.
Heretofore, portable defibrillators have been provided for use in emergency situations and other applications away from a hospital or medical laboratory. Such defibrillators are generally powered by a battery or series of batteries which must be maintained in a charged condition to assure proper operation of the device.
Battery chargers heretofore utilized with portable defibrillators have included conventional trickle chargers for delivering a small charging current for maintaining the battery in a normally charged condition, and some chargers have also included a fast charge circuit for delivering a larger charging current for charging the battery rapidly in the event that it becomes discharged. Such fast charge circuits are generally manually actuated, and they can require as much as twenty minutes to recharge a good battery to a usable level. Such a charging time is not satisfactory in an emergency situation when a patient may begin to die in three minutes or less. Moreover, if the battery is not in good condition, the fast charge may receive it only briefly, and it may fail in an emergency situation.